Right-wing sites see their traffic tank, CCDH moves to recover legal fees from Elon Musk, Wall Street upvotes Reddit's stock, Nickelodeon directors apologize amid fallout from "Quiet on Set" docuseries, and so much more. But first, the A1.

Running From Ronna

CNN Photo Illustration/Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Only 80 hours elapsed between NBC News announcing Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor and the network ousting her from that very role. But for the leadership at NBC Universal News Group, those were 80 painful hours.

On Tuesday evening, following another full day in which the media rumor mill churned at warp speed, NBCU News Group boss Cesar Conde sent staff a memo, notifying his troops that he had reversed his decision to welcome the former Republican National Committee chair to "the team."

"After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor," Conde said, adding that he wanted to "personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down."

Conde had no real choice. The embattled NBCU boss, who I'm told dealt with the crisis from an unknown location outside of 30 Rock, was facing an unprecedented rebellion from his most high-profile stars, who one by one went on the air and excoriated leadership's decision to hire McDaniel. The only aspect of Conde's note that was surprising was the fact that it came 48 hours late, allowing what started off as a crisis to fester and balloon into one of the worst corporate public relations calamities in recent memory.

"What a shit show!" a media executive exclaimed to me Tuesday shortly after Conde relieved McDaniel of her NBC News credentials.

In his note, Conde said he took "full responsibility" for McDaniel's hire. But, he also did point the finger, telling staffers that hiring her was "a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team." Indeed, multiple people familiar with the matter have told me that the infighting among NBC executives over who was at fault for the disaster has reached a fever pitch, with various factions of the NBCU News Group assigning blame to others.

Regardless of who is to blame, the entire affair made clear who is actually in control of the company — and it's not Conde & Co. Despite the NBCU C-suite digging their heels in the sand as they resisted dumping McDaniel for days, they were ultimately forced to succumb to pressure from their talent. As a second media executive commented to me, it is now "very clear who is in charge" after the "weak leadership was put on full display."

"Has Cesar lost the room?" wondered a third media executive. 

While the Peacock family argues over who was really at fault, the company is facing a fresh public relations mess. Led by Donald Trump, right-wing personalities are already assailing the network as being overrun with intolerant woke leftists. 

"These Radical Left Lunatics are CRAZY and the top people at NBC ARE WEAK," Trump raged on his Truth Social platform.

Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary under President George W. Bush, wrote on X: "What NBC is saying is if you're for Trump, you don’t belong. Good. Let NBC be for Democrats only."

Of course, that narrative is intellectually dishonest. The objection to McDaniel from both within and outside of NBCU was not that she is a Republican. It wasn't even that she was a Trump-supporting Republican. No, the objection stemmed from the fact that McDaniel was an active participant in the plot to subvert the 2020 vote. And, in addition to that disgraceful history, she had a lengthy track record smearing NBC News and MSNBC.

Nevertheless, NBCU will now have to contend with such dishonest attacks being leveled by the right, which will follow them in the days, months, and even years to come. As unfair as it may be, they will certainly damage the network's brand in Republican circles — a place it had gone through great pains to appeal to.

NBCU will also have to grapple with McDaniel, who spent the last 24 hours or so interviewing lawyers as she gears up for a possible legal fight with the network, according to a person familiar with the matter. The rift between McDaniel and NBCU had grown to such an extent by Tuesday that she was not informed by network brass that she had been dismissed, I'm told. Instead, McDaniel learned of her ouster in press reports.

While NBCU is being beaten up on the right, the company's leadership was quickly praised by its journalists and top stars. Shortly after Conde sent out his memo, Rachel Maddow appeared on Joy Reid's show, where the two lauded Conde for reversing course. 

"I think it is a show of strength and a show of respect for the people who work at this company and make us who we are," Maddow said. "That leadership was willing to change on this, I'm grateful to them."

CNN Photo Illustration/Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

First in Reliable | Tuesday’s harrowing New York Times piece about a former Israeli hostage speaking out for the first time about the sexual and physical abuse she faced at the hands of her captors in Gaza, had to be re-reported after the Times cut ties with an Israeli freelancer over her "likes" on social media, CNN's Hadas Gold reports.

The survivor, Amit Soussana, had already spoken to freelancer Anat Schwartz about her experience, a senior editor at The NYT told Gold. But when the Times cut ties with her, they also cut ties with all of her reporting and "anybody who had read the notes from our earlier interview, who had worked on that team, including editors who were reassigned." That meant Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Jeffrey Gettleman as well, the senior editor said. It also meant Soussana needed to be re-interviewed, something the senior editor said they approached delicately.

Though the Times has published new reporting raising doubts about an Israeli paramedic's claims of sexual assault during the October 7 attack, the senior editor said they "continue to stand by their reporting" and have a dozen staffers working on a "larger ongoing body of work into sexual violence that took place in this conflict." CNN and other outlets told Reliable they are also reviewing their reporting on the medic's claims.

First in Reliable | Traffic Tanks: Many right-wing websites saw their traffic tank last month when compared to the last presidential election cycle, according to data analyzed by Howard Polskin at The Righting and first shared with Reliable. Twitchy experienced the biggest drop, losing 93% of its audience, followed by The Federalist (-91%), The Washington Times (-89%), and Western Journal, (-84%). Other major sites took a hit too, including The Drudge Report (-81%) and Breitbart (-76%)."The traffic declines are deeper than I anticipated," Polskin said. Mainstream news outlets, by comparison, saw much smaller declines, including CNN (-19%), The NYT (-22%) and WaPo (-43%). "Right wing websites appear more susceptible to steeper election year audience erosion than mainstream or left-leaning outlets," he said. Polskin has more here.

Musk's Legal Misfortune: After seeing a judge toss out his lawsuit in court on Monday, Elon Musk will be on the hook for the Center for Countering Digital Hate's legal fees. The non-profit told Reliable on Tuesday that "the specific amount of fees will need to be hashed out in court and CCDH plans to initiate that process as soon as practicable." The group added, "This case was nothing more than a transparent attempt by Musk and X to silence honest criticism and to deter others from researching social media. If there were no costs associated with launching meritless and intimidatory legal action, it would pose a significant threat to free speech itself."

CNN Photo Illustration/Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

The Street Upvotes: Reddit's stock is heading to the moon. Since the social media platform IPO'd on Friday, the company's share price has nearly doubled, rocketing 42%. That means investors, including Condé Nast parent Advance Publications, have made even more $$$. Still no word, however, from Advance on if the company will allow Condé to proceed with layoffs as it sees a massive windfall from its investment. I asked spokespeople for the company again on Tuesday, but my emails were met with radio silence.

CNN Photo Illustration/OGUT/Star Max/GC Images/Getty Images

So Sorry!: Nickelodeon directors Beth and Rich Correll issued an apology after the "Quiet on Set" docuseries revealed they had sided in letters with Brian Peck against Drake Bell, who had accused the acting coach of sexual abuse. "We extend our deepest apologies to Drake Bell and his family, and we deeply regret our decision many years ago to request leniency for someone who we later learned had committed a horrible crime and caused so much pain and trauma to Drake and others. If we had known the truth at the time the letters were written, we never would have written them," the directors told Variety's Emily Longeretta in a statement. Peck later served time in prison and had to register as a sex offender. Longeretta has more. 

► The apology comes ahead of a new episode of "Quiet on Set" airing on Max, which is set to feature interviews with Bell and there child actors.